Canada’s privacy law is evolving to better accommodate combatting instances of fraud—while continuing to protect citizens’ privacy rights. For the financial services industry, new rules under legislation like the Digital Privacy Act are empowering institutions to more effectively manage both client privacy and their ability to enforce and deter fraud. Associate and privacy expert Molly Reynolds was sought by Investment Executive for her thoughts on how the rules are changing to address these issues. Below is an excerpt of the article.

Financial advisors have always had the power to report cases of suspected financial abuse under securities regulations. However, recent amendments to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) clarify what has been an ambiguous area in Canada’s privacy law.

Notes Molly Reynolds, an associate with Torys LLP in Toronto: “There is a public policy component there, where [the government] is trying to facilitate the protection of individuals who may be vulnerable to financial abuse.

“[The DPA also takes] some of the guesswork and some of the legal analysis out of [preventing financial abuse] and provides more clearly worded exemptions.”